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TAILH00K AND WACO*
Now that the Pentagon's Inspector General has completed his work,
as many as 175 Navy officers face discipline. The 1991 "Tailhook"
convention, held at the Las Vegas Hilton, was attended by c4000, and
c2900 interviews were used in documenting the thick report. Among those
implicated are 30 flag officers, 2 Marine Corps general officers and 3
Navy Reserve general officers. When the process of trial and punishment
sets in, those convicted face the possibility of reduction in rank and
dismissal.
The report charges that a growing pattern of misconduct had
developed over years, with each annual meet trying to outdo the previous
year, and that this revealed a pattern of irresponsibility at the
highest level. The "sport" indulged included not only general rowdiness
and drunkenness, but "streaking," "mooning," "ballwalking" and other
forms of indecent exposure. Varieties of sexual abuse of women were
admitted, freguently consensual. Apparently the latter misbehavior,
which slid over into pinching, biting and mauling of some females who
were not consenting, brought about the first semi-public rumblings that
did not die down as usual. Harassment of women can no longer pass the
test of political correctness.
Shift scenes, and go back three months in 1993. As the end of
February approached and pieces of the new administration's budget were
falling into place, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms faced
severe cuts and even the whispered possibility of termination.
Governmental relationship with the alcohol industry was stabilized. The
tobacco industry was on the defensive in the USA. Although some states
were attempting to carve out small patches of order in the prevailing
jungle wilderness of weapons, the prospect of Federal firearms control
was nil: the owners of the National Rifle Association were still in
control. Who needed the B.A.T.F.?
Faced with this anguishing prospect of the loss of public support
and privilege, the chief bureaucrats of the B.A.T.F. looked desperately
around and found a heavenly gift - if not from the gods, at least from
a self-styled Messiah. On the plains west of Waco, Texas there was a
self-contained community of "cultists." They were said to be expecting
Armageddon, a consummate military conflict.
The charismatic leader of the "cult" was said to call himself a
"Messiah." If that were properly publicized, Christians and Jews would
be offended. If that were insufficient, the charge that he called
himself "Jesus Christ" should do the trick with the majority of the
religious. There was the rumor that the community practiced polygamy.
Much more serious offenses to the moral code were promoted in the movie
and TV industry, but "Mount Carmel" was a far less dangerous target to
attack than Hollywood.
*A commentary by Rev. Dr. Franklin H. Littell, President of the
Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights

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TAILH00K AND WACO*
Now that the Pentagon's Inspector General has completed his work,
as many as 175 Navy officers face discipline. The 1991 "Tailhook"
convention, held at the Las Vegas Hilton, was attended by c4000, and
c2900 interviews were used in documenting the thick report. Among those
implicated are 30 flag officers, 2 Marine Corps general officers and 3
Navy Reserve general officers. When the process of trial and punishment
sets in, those convicted face the possibility of reduction in rank and
dismissal.
The report charges that a growing pattern of misconduct had
developed over years, with each annual meet trying to outdo the previous
year, and that this revealed a pattern of irresponsibility at the
highest level. The "sport" indulged included not only general rowdiness
and drunkenness, but "streaking," "mooning," "ballwalking" and other
forms of indecent exposure. Varieties of sexual abuse of women were
admitted, freguently consensual. Apparently the latter misbehavior,
which slid over into pinching, biting and mauling of some females who
were not consenting, brought about the first semi-public rumblings that
did not die down as usual. Harassment of women can no longer pass the
test of political correctness.
Shift scenes, and go back three months in 1993. As the end of
February approached and pieces of the new administration's budget were
falling into place, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms faced
severe cuts and even the whispered possibility of termination.
Governmental relationship with the alcohol industry was stabilized. The
tobacco industry was on the defensive in the USA. Although some states
were attempting to carve out small patches of order in the prevailing
jungle wilderness of weapons, the prospect of Federal firearms control
was nil: the owners of the National Rifle Association were still in
control. Who needed the B.A.T.F.?
Faced with this anguishing prospect of the loss of public support
and privilege, the chief bureaucrats of the B.A.T.F. looked desperately
around and found a heavenly gift - if not from the gods, at least from
a self-styled Messiah. On the plains west of Waco, Texas there was a
self-contained community of "cultists." They were said to be expecting
Armageddon, a consummate military conflict.
The charismatic leader of the "cult" was said to call himself a
"Messiah." If that were properly publicized, Christians and Jews would
be offended. If that were insufficient, the charge that he called
himself "Jesus Christ" should do the trick with the majority of the
religious. There was the rumor that the community practiced polygamy.
Much more serious offenses to the moral code were promoted in the movie
and TV industry, but "Mount Carmel" was a far less dangerous target to
attack than Hollywood.
*A commentary by Rev. Dr. Franklin H. Littell, President of the
Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights